What It Means
by tanikara kohitsuji
Summary: Spoilers for Chapters 699 & 700. "Why is it always 'thank you' with you?" Sakura finally gets some much needed venting off her chest. Mostly about why Sasuke thanks her then leaves her. K for some mild swearing. SasuSaku.


_A SasuSaku oneshot_

_Set between Chapters 699 and 700_

"Why is it always 'thank you' with you?"

The door had barely closed behind Sasuke when Sakura asked this. The Uchiha sighed quietly, knowing his girlfriend well enough to sense the tirade looming ahead. He ignored her for the time it took him to reach the couch.

"What do you mean?" he asked as he settled in.

"Before you leave, you always say 'thank you,'" Sakura said as she came around to stand in front of him. Her pretty green eyes were narrowed dangerously, matching the fierce downward turn of her mouth. "I'm getting pretty damn sick of the word!"

"Why's that?" he answered coolly.

"Augh!" She threw up her hands in frustration.

"Because you always say it in such a cryptic tone!" Sakura ran her hands through her hair, leaving it messy afterwards. "I can never tell what the hell you're thanking me for! Are you thanking me for offering to come? For caring? For trying to stop you? For not giving up on you?! Or is it all some mind game of yours to drive me up the wall?!"

The rosette stayed quiet for several moments after that, her chest heaving from the effort of her rant. Sasuke was silent as well, waiting to see if she would catch a second wind. He had to admit though, she was pretty darn cute when she was fired up.

"Not to mention," she continued abruptly, "do you know how frustrating it is that you always leave me here?! I don't care if you're protecting me—which by the way I don't need. I can protect my own damn self—or whatever!" Sakura's gestures were becoming bigger as she became more agitated. She began to pace as she continued.

"But it's kind of insulting that you don't seem to want me around except when it's convenient for you! You know how I feel about you and you seem to feel something too, but it's like you're keeping up this distance to keep me from getting too close!" She paused in her speech and pacing, leaving Sasuke only her profile to look at.

"And it's just… it's just so frustrating and lonely and—" she broke off as tears began to form in her eyes. Her expression started to crumple in on itself, and she quickly turned away form the Uchiha so he wouldn't see.

Sasuke got up silently and crossed the room to stand behind her. He wrapped his arm around her, pulling her close. He remembered how many times he's seen her cry for him and how many times he'd probably make her cry again. It tore him apart to see her tears, even more so when she didn't want him to see them.

"It's just…" she hiccupped with a sob, "you don't know what it's like… waiting all alone for you to come back… not knowing if you'll ever come back…"

He nodded and laid his head on hers. He knew he asked a lot of her. More than he should probably, more than he had the right to.

"I miss you… and it just seems like you don't miss me nearly as much."

"I do," he refuted quietly but firmly. "I do miss you, Sakura."

"Then why do you leave me here? Why not take me with you?"

He considered giving her the same answer as the first time he had left after the war, about his sins being his alone, but he knew that wouldn't be good enough this time. It was time to be completely honest, to tell her why he wanted to keep his past to himself. Worse, it was time to be honest with himself.

"Because I'm afraid," he admitted, his voice breaking slightly. His arm tightened around her unconsciously. "I'm afraid that if you see what I've done… if you see all the pain and suffering I've caused… you'll leave me. I'm scared that if you see the worst of me, you'll finally turn your back on me because you won't be able to forgive me for what I did."

"Sasuke-kun…"

"And I couldn't bear that. I can't lose you too." The pain in his voice was raw, reminding both of them that some scars never fully heal. His whole body shook as they stayed like that for several minutes, taking comfort in each other.

"You won't lose me, Sasuke," Sakura said firmly.

"You don't know that." He kept his eyes closed as he breathed in her scent, trying to memorize it, suddenly afraid it might be the last time he ever held the only woman he'd ever loved.

"Yes, I do. You think I haven't tried to move on from you even once in all these years?"

His eyes flew open at that before narrowing, instantly disliking the thought of Sakura with someone else.

"When you first left back when we were kids, I tried to hate you. I really did," her voice shook a little again, the painful memories of those days still pulling at her emotions. "Our friends had nearly died because of you, trying to stop you. Because I begged Naruto to bring you back for my sake. I didn't want to love someone who could cause so much pain to me, to those I cared for. I wanted to stop loving you. I tried to convince myself for months that you weren't worth it, that I could do better than you, that you didn't care so I shouldn't, anything at all that I thought would work."

Sasuke held his breath. Even though he knew she obviously still loved him, something in him was almost afraid to hear her say she had moved on for a bit, that he had lost her affections for a period of time. Because if she had done it once, couldn't she stop loving him again?

She continued after taking a breath. "It didn't work. I couldn't stop loving you, no matter how much I wished I could or knew I shouldn't. So, no matter what you say, no matter what you do, I will always love you. And I wouldn't want to change that."

Sasuke was quiet for several moments, relieved as he took her speech in. He smiled a little as he remembered that it was part of why he loved her. When he spun wildly out of control, Sakura was his rock, his earth, steady and strong. When he lost his way, he could find his way back so long as she was there to light the way. Steadfast Sakura who endured everything to keep on loving someone like him.

He cleared his throat a little to push back the sadder emotions trying to overwhelm him. "This started with you asking me why I always say 'thank you,' right?"

He leaned over slightly to kiss his temple. "It means thank you for waiting."

Sakura's cheeks and ears flushed pink from the gesture. "Sasuke—"

For waiting patiently for him to notice her. For waiting for him to come back to his senses, to return to her. This woman in his embrace had the patience of a saint to tolerate him for this long. He would never be able to thank her enough for putting up with him and his arrogance this long.

He kissed her cheek next. "Thank you for caring."

She smiled a little, even as a final tear spilled over, but for once he knew it wasn't out of sadness. No, it was from joy and it thrilled Sasuke to think he had sparked it. Like turning over a new page after writing so many dark chapters in his life's story, he was truly going to start infusing his story with light.

His lips moved to her jaw. "Thank you for trying."

He had loved seeing that fire in her eyes on that day when his teammates had finally caught up with him. So different from the desperation in her eyes the night he left, the determination as she charged at him had caught him and never let him go. The same flame that burned in her eyes the day he killed Danzo as she swore to join him, as she tried to stop him. A woman who no longer needed his protection, who gave her all in battle just like she had always done in love.

He placed his lips on the shell of her ear before whispering, "Thank you for offering to come."

Sakura sighed a little as she leaned back into his embrace, and the Uchiha smiled a little as he brushed her hair aside to kiss the nape of her neck. His hand went back to waist to pull her as close as possible.

"Thank you for not giving up on me," he said. He skimmed his hand up her side, tracing each subtle curve before reaching her shirt collar and pulling it down slightly to kiss her neck again. "But most of all, it means thank you for being you."

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><p><strong>AN: **This was originally going to be Sasuke proposing but… it just felt too saccharine with that as an ending. So we'll see that some other time. But seriously, I've just been so thrilled that they're canon that I couldn't like wrap my mind around it. I couldn't write my joy because I was so shocked. But this morning I finally passed the shock phase and entered the "Hell yeah, let's party!" phase.

Also if you're about to say that say that 'thank you' is two words, not one… not in Japanese it isn't. So since they are Japanese… I'm sticking with what I wrote.

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><p><strong>Blooper Reel<strong>

He let go of the shirt collar to slide his hand around to the front of her shirt where the zipper was. He began to slide the fastener down and let out a growl of frustration when it stuck.

"It does not mean thank you for your damned high shirt collars and stupid zippers though."

Sakura laughed a little. "Consider it your punishment for leaving me alone so much."

"At least have them down the back," he groused as she turned to face him. "They're easier to reach then."


End file.
